June 2006

Recent attention has focused on access of communities to pharmacy services in rural areas. To increase access to pharmacy services in rural Western Australia some doctors have been granted a licence to dispense medication on the rationale that a pharmacy would not be economically viable...

This research set out to establish an evidence base around public and private sector rental evictions in Australia that will assist in the formulation of policies and strategies that reduce the cost burden of evictions on housing providers and managers.

This report presents key statistics on the levels of service provision of the Community Aged Care Packages Program and the Extended Aged Care at Home Program funded by the Australian Government. Detailed statistics on the socio-demographic characteristics of package recipients and the patterns of the...

This report presents data on the number, nature, incidence and costs of public sector medical indemnity claims for the period 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2005. It describes incidents that gave rise to claims, the people affected by these incidents, and the size, duration...

Good quality data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are needed to assess the effectiveness of programs and interventions, and to evaluate policies that are designed to improve the status of, and service delivery to, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Authored by AIHW,...

Stephen Leeder considers the implications of global warming for health policy, and calls for the effects on global health to form part of debates on energy production. He predicts increases in respiratory disorders as a result of global warming and calls for investigation into its...

Over the past few years, developments in housing prices have been of significant concern to policy-makers in many countries. But measurement problems make it difficult to assess developments accurately with the available data. This article summarises research on the measurement of aggregate housing prices, and...

Australia’s system for sentencing federal offenders should be significantly overhauled to provide greater consistency, fairness and clarity, according to this report, which includes a detailed analysis of over 25,000 fraud and drug cases handled by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions between 2000 and 2004....

OUR democracy is diminished. On Tuesday night, the Senate passed a new law that is a major step backwards for our electoral system writes George Williams in the Courier Mail. The law closes the electoral roll before many have had the chance to register, takes...

This report traverses some difficult and complex issues: rent, rental systems, social housing finance systems, the objective of social housing, affordability, equity, financial viability and work disincentives. Sean McNelis not only discusses these issues in themselves but more importantly, relates them to one another.

In this chapter on Singapore's authoritarian control of the media, Terence Lee and Lars Willnat seek to identify the tactics and strategies employed by the Singapore government to manage the media?s ability to engage in political communication. They provide a summary of recent research on...

National Research Venture - Housing Affordability for Lower-Income Australians The focus of this report by Mike Berry is on the key economic effects of problems associated with housing affordability. The basic aim is to provide a broader-than-normal rationale for, and a basis on which to...

In this chapter on Singapore’s authoritarian control of the media, Terence Lee and Lars Willnat seek to identify the tactics and strategies employed by the Singapore government to manage the media’s ability to engage in political communication. They provide a summary of recent research on...

What are some of the key emergent cultural practices in the twenty-first century? What is likely to gain ground and drive innovation? Stuart Cunningham explores these questions in this extract from Platform Papers 9, What Price a Creative Economy?

Up until 2001 there was little direct evidence that housing affordability problems were heightening labour shortages, as low-income jobs moved to low cost suburbs, and those jobs in the inner city - such as hospitality or retail jobs - were filled by young people who...

The capacity of the People’s Action Party (PAP) of Singapore to continually reproduce an authoritarian regime stands in sharp contrast with the situation in Taiwan and South Korea. Yet there is nothing theoretically exceptional to this case. Singapore’s political institutions, as elsewhere, are the product...

Conventional political wisdom holds that one must either love John Howard and loathe Paul Keating, or vice versa. But perhaps they have too much in common for this handy division to really make sense, writes Zach Alexopoulos. It is well known that both leaders believe...

It’s axiomatic. Across any aspect of enterprise – whether in services, manufacturing, import/ export, or health and education – the skills of people define the success of the business, writes Jack Dusseldorp. Financial capital of course remains crucial, but human and social capital are now...

The take up of broadband services has passed three million connections, according to the latest ACCC Snapshot of Broadband Deployment . The report details the deployment of broadband services throughout Australia as at 31 March 2006, based on data provided by major carriers of broadband...

Markets are already making a significant contribution to allocating rural water to higher value uses. But institutional arrangements for water need more reform, according to the commission. This discussion paper examines the feasibility of establishing market mechanisms to encourage economic efficiency of rural water-use, including...

This report proposes measures to protect consumers from inappropriate or harmful material on emerging content services such as 3G mobile phones and subscription-based Internet portals. Releasing the report, the government promised to introduce appropriate safeguards are in place to protect children from certain content.

This paper is important for three reasons. The first is that it evaluates the impact of a significant change in the strategic management of police focused on driving down recorded crime rates. The second is that it highlights the continued professionalisation of policing in the...

Marian Sawer describes how the Democratic Audit of Australia has separated out the values of political equality, popular control of government, civil liberties/human rights and deliberative democracy in order to highlight the threat posed by populist majoritarianism. Attacks on the 'non-elected' intermediary institutions essential to...

In 2003, 1,821 males and 5,669 females aged under 15 years were recorded by police as victims of sexual assault but we know from crime victim surveys that sexual assault is the crime least likely to be reported to the police. We also know from...

IN THE FLURRY of concern over the appointments of vocal right-wingers to the ABC board - Ron Brunton, Janet Albrechtsen and now Keith Windschuttle - the broadcaster's supporters are in danger of losing focus. Demonising individuals doesn't help. The real dangers are...

While governments are less willing to provide and regulate housing, in many cases they retain a dominant capacity to imagine and define not only housing reality, but also institute this reality through the institutional and governmental relationships of social housing. Jago Dodson assesses the changing...

There is a widespread belief that Alan Jones can decide elections. Drawing on demographic and attitudinal data from an extensive survey by Roy Morgan Research, Clive Hamilton shows that perceptions of Jones? influence and political sway are out of proportion with the size and nature...

There is a widespread belief that Alan Jones can decide elections. Drawing on demographic and attitudinal data from an extensive survey by Roy Morgan Research, Clive Hamilton shows that perceptions of Jones’ influence and political sway are out of proportion with the size and nature...

How we nurture our babies and young children is universally regarded as fundamental to our humanity. But the ways in which we choose to care for our infants and toddlers are infinitely diverse. Each era, every culture and all families endeavour to create the best...

Comprehensive statistical information on residential aged care services and their residents is provided in this report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The report contains information on the capacity of residential aged care services, their residents and resident characteristics, levels of dependency among...

The tenth biennial health report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, provides an authoritative source of information on national patterns of health and illness, determinants of health, the supply and use of health services, and health services expenditure. 'Australia's health 2006' is the...

It will surprise no-one who lived in New South Wales during the 1970s and 1980s that a book called The Wran Era focuses almost completely on Neville Wran. It may be a cliché to say that as Premier from 1976 to 1986, Wran dominated state...

This study by the Independent Schools Council of Australia provides an overview of the sector. Enrolments in indepdent schools have increased significantly in recent years, from 9.7 per cent of the total student population in 1996 to 12.8 per cent in 2005.

Petrol sniffing causes devastation in Indigenous communities. The health impacts include chronic disability and the social impacts include violence, crime and the breakdown of community structures. This report argues that measures to deal with the problem are now well known; the priority is to harness...

This study, by the Australian Institute of Primary Care, led by Charles Livingston, analysed the composition and transformation over time of the technological basis of the Victorian electronic gaming machine industry, so as to develop an understanding of the relation between technology and consumption behaviour....

This report makes recommendations about improving linkages and collaborations between the public and private sectors, fostering a more entrepreneurial culture in Australia, and better publicising the range of innovation assistance available. Other recommendations relate to addressing gaps in the assistance available and removing blocks to...

Both state owned and managed Indigenous housing organisations (SOMIH) and Indigenous community housing organisations (ICHOS) experience operating deficits greater than those of mainstream public housing agencies according to John Hall and Mike Berry. This deficit is due to poor quality and high maintenance housing stock,...

Growth in demand for housing assistance amongst renters will exceed the growth rate for households from 2003 to 2011 reports Ann Harding. Growth will take place mainly in major cities, but higher rates of growth will occur in non-metropolitan areas of New South Wales, Queensland,...

On 22 June 2005 the Senate of the Commonwealth of Australia voted to establish an inquiry into workplace harm related to toxic dust and emerging technologies (including nanoparticles). The inquiry became known as the White Inquiry after Mr Richard White, a financially uncompensated sufferer of...

No other issue has the ability to bring together so many people and nations as does climate change. Peter Hayes suggests that although we are currently responding at the 1 percent level of what is needed to address the climate change threat, there is the...

With public funding of political parties proposed in Western Australia, Senator Andrew Murray argues that a quid pro quo is required in the form of higher standards of governance, transparency, and accountability, from the parties that receive it.

Joan Staples argues that the federal government’s policies towards non-government organisations are undermining the democratic process. She writes that the government has been inspired by public choice perspectives in its attempts to limit the advocacy role of NGOs.

This preliminary research report by Janet Hunt and Diane Smith is based on the first year of fieldwork conducted by the Indigenous Community Governance Project. The Project is exploring the nature of Indigenous community governance in diverse contexts and locations across Australia through a series...

John Taylor outlines current Australian social indicator frameworks, including issues of statistical accountability and the politics of statistics. He discusses aspects of representations of Indigenous culture in formal reporting frameworks, and observes that the development of indicators in cross-cultural settings will always involve a degree...

The Security Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Act 2002 requires the attorney-general to cause a public and independent review of the operation of Security Acts relating to terrorism. The Security Legislation Review Committee’s report recommends a number of important changes to the government’s terrorism-related legislation and measures...

What, asks Ian Hunter, can we learn from the fact that on 30 May 2006, acting in his capacity East Timor’s President and head of state, Xanana Gusmao declared a state of emergency, assuming sole direction of the country’s armed forces and police, with the...

This submission to the parliamentary inquiry into community broadcasting provides information about the scope and role of the Australian community broadcasting sector, through a summary of the sector's key characteristics, history and composition; how the regulatory framework serves to encourage services that reflect the cultural...

THE House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing is currently inquiring into the state of health service financing (6432) . I took the opportunity to address the inquiry, and looked for...

The National Social Housing Survey collects information about the nature of the public housing sector through a survey of tenants. This information can be used to identify the satisfaction of public housing tenants with the service provided, the benefits of living in public housing and...

This report provides information on the use of dental services among Australian children and adults in 2002. It presents data on dental visiting patterns, location of dental visit, dental treatment received and affordability of dental care are presented, and identifies variations in the use of...

Clive Hamilton argues that the shift of government research funding from renewables to geosequestration and the recent interest in a nuclear power industry suggest that the federal government’s strategy is to actively delay any moves to temper the growth of Australia’s emissions for 20 years...

Drawing on a 2005 survey of employees of ABC centres and twenty detailed interviews, Emma Rush and Christian Downie conclude that corporate chain centres provide poorer quality care on all quality aspects surveyed compared to community-based centres. They argue that the federal government should consider...

Using the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, Julie Lee compares a group of long-term unemployed women with at least one pre-school child with an equivalent employed group, and analyses the differences in their circumstances. On that basis she proposes a set...

Adrienne Millbank, Janet Phillips and Catherine Bohm provide an overview of Australia's settlement services for migrants and humanitarian entrants, and a guide to internet resources, research and comment on current settlement issues in Australia. They also provide information about the development of settlement and ‘integration’...

The way school students understand work through their paid part-time work and participation in school-based apprenticeships has the potential to inform career decision making and further education pathways. Through classroom-based interventions this project sought to assist student’s and teacher’s understandings of ‘authentic’ work experiences.

In response to the need for new aircraft to replace the ageing F/A-18 and F-111, the Australian government foreshadowed the purchase of about 100 new aircraft to be in service in 2012. Since then, the estimated cost of the purchase has increased from about $10.5...

The committee recommends that this controversial Bill should not proceed. In the event that the Bill proceeds, the committee recommends that it be amended to ensure consistency with previous changes to Australia's refugee determination system including, but not limited to, government responses to the Palmer,...

This submission to the parliamentary inquiry into community broadcasting provides information about the scope and role of the Australian community broadcasting sector, through a summary of the sector’s key characteristics, history and composition; how the regulatory framework serves to encourage services that reflect the cultural...

The Child Care in Cultural Context study was designed to measure the childrearing beliefs, goals and practices of parents and carers of children from Anglo, Vietnamese, and Somali backgrounds. In this paper Kelly Hand and Sarah Wise describe carers’ attitudes towards working with parents, how...

The legal recognition of same-sex relationships in New South Wales and elsewhere in Australia has increased dramatically in the last 20 years to a point where most jurisdictions generally provide same-sex couples with the same rights and obligations as heterosexual de facto couples. Karina Anthony...

Last month's Australian Agency for International Development white paper on Australia's overseas aid program states, in no uncertain terms, that Australia’s security depends to a significant extent on the success of poverty-reduction programs in the Asia-Pacific region. But there is more than one way of...

Richard Tanter argues that since the dominant characteristic of the coverage of East Timor in the past two weeks has been utter confusion, both inside and outside the country, this is really a time for a little humility amongst the foreign pundits and experts. He...

IS IT TRUE that the Howard government is making it harder to vote but easier to make secret donations to political parties, as the opposition has alleged? All democracies are confronting the problem of...

This study of the BSL and Community Sector Banking’s personal loan pilot, which provided small loans to purchase household goods and services, points to the creditworthiness of a group of people on low incomes. For many participants, obtaining a loan was not only about money,...

Organisation or democracy? Unity or difference? Local or global? The idea of political tensions leading to crisis and resolution has an impeccable intellectual pedigree on the Left. A new book, reviewed by Jenny McAllister, explores conflicts familiar to most people involved in politics, and documents...

Just over a decade ago the longest and most comprehensive international trade negotiations ever were successfully concluded. But instead of being strengthened over the past decade, the multilateral trade regime has been subjected to immense pressures and strains. Why did the optimism of the mid-1990s...

Why did the optimism of the mid-1990s prove to be so wrong-headed, asks Ann Capling.

Just over a decade ago the longest and most comprehensive international trade negotiations ever were successfully concluded. But instead of being strengthened over the past decade, the multilateral trade...

While exceptionally mobile by Australian standards, Aboriginal households in Dajarra, Alpurrurulam and Mt Isa are relatively stable in their customary attachment to their home community, local bush country, cultutal region and regional centre. According to this AHURI Research and Policy Bulletin, there is a need...

Anne-Marie Boxall and Stephanie D. Short argue that it is important to find out if, and why, Australia has resisted the affects of neo-liberalism on population health so we ensure our high standards are maintained in the future.

Over the past 50 years, Australia has maintained a labour productivity level of around 80 per cent of that of the United States. To explain this gap, there is growing interest in the hindrances that might be imposed by Australia’s geographic isolation. Bryn Battersby provides...

This special issue of the Economic and Labour Relations Review is devoted to an examination of the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act 2005. Many of the contributors, working in fields such as labour law, labour economics and industrial relations argue that Work Choices does...

Developing the capacity of communities has become an important part of the broadening role of many state and NGO agencies. Rowland Atkinson and Paul Willis report on a review of the community capacity-building literature and give a plain language introduction to the do’s and don’ts...

These statistics show the number of people in training, as at 31 December 2005, remained steady at 389,000, down 0.4 per cent from the end of December 2004. When comparing apprentice and trainee activity in the year ending 31 December 2005 to the previous year,...

Australian vocational education and training statistics: Students and courses 2005 - Preliminary dataPreliminary data from the annual collection of student enrolments relating to the public vocational education and training system show that more than 1.64 million students undertook publicly funded training in 2005, an increase...

Does housing stress vary greatly between areas? What is a typical profile of a household in housing stress? These are the types of questions answered in this paper, which presents estimates of housing stress for local areas in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the...

Graeme Dobell backgrounds the deal-making behind the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. He writes, “The key point – almost the only fact in the announcement – was the membership... The US had found Australia the easiest of catches, however it was the other...

The Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs currently allocates around 130,000 to 140,000 migration places each year – the highest level in twenty years. In 2005–06, 97,500 places have been allocated for skilled migration, the largest number ever allocated. In this e-brief Janet Phillips provides...

Australia is expected to have an extra five million people living mostly in major cities by 2032 which, coupled with a possible reduction in water supply, would place growing pressure on demand. Mike D. Young, Wendy Proctor, M. Ejaz Qureshi and Glyn Wittwer look at...

After being evacuated from East Timor, Jacqueline Aquino Siapno writes about the deliberate burning of the house in Dili she built with her husband, Fernando de Araujo, leader of the Democratic Party. Writes Siapno: “Many of the arson attacks witnessed in Dili in the past...

Matthew Gray and Jennifer Renda present evidence on the extent to which non-working, lone and couple mothers who would like to work, can estimate the minimum wage which they need to be paid in order to accept a job offer (their reservation wage).

In this Law Week 2006 address, Paul Chadwick issues a warning, in two parts. He argues, first, that the aspect of privacy known as anonymity in a crowd is draining away, and to fail to debate the implications puts in peril other aspects of freedom...

Kristy Muir, Ann Dadich, David Abelló, Michael Bleasdale, Alan Morris and Karen Fisher present the summary findings of the second phase of a longitudinal evaluation of the Housing and Accommodation Support Initiative Stage One from May to October 2005. They find that outcomes continued to...